Mission to Skull Island, Chapter four
Chapter four of Mission to Skull Island. Story The Jungle-Aces and their animal-guide continue toward where that Avro-York crashed. They had emerged from the swamp to find a river leading toward a mountainous area just a few miles away. Along the way they catch a glimpse of a Monstrutalpus (another relic dinocephalian) digging for roots and an Ambulaquasaurus (another relic dromaeosaur, but specializes in fishing) harassing a school of Sparklesides (the salmon of Skull Island) swimming upriver to spawn. Further they meet a Hylaeornis (a flightless seriema) walking along patrolling its territory until it got snapped up by another Stickalithus who gives no interest to the newcomers and lets them pass. An hour or so after that they began to get hungry and decided to have a lunch-break, which the local wildlife seem to agree as a group of Asperdorsus (a relic sauropod) chow down on some trees while a Wicked Weaver (another skull island spider) ensnares a Feather Devil (a dinosaur similar in appearance to Microraptor) who got caught in its web. During the lunch the gang see some Diablosaurus (another sauropod, except more heavily armored with rhino horns) competing for mates. Kit couldn't resist watching. "If Wildcat was here he'd have a field-day" he remarks, "why's that?" Ernie wonders, "well Wildcat has a thing for animals, dinosaurs especially, remember when he and Baloo found that lost valley and protected it from O'Roarke?" Kit recalls, receiving nods, "oh yeah, and there's this time when he and Baloo saved these gremlin-creatures from some greedy bird-lady mechanic with a pet-crocodile" Kit recalls again, "you've gotta tell us that story Kit" Bert begs, "oh come on tell us" Rey requests, and even the Atercurisaurus looks interested, "oh it's such a long story" Kit dismissed, "so abbreviate it" Oscar suggested, "okay, so it went like this..." Kit began, while the Diablosaurus continue to fight for mates, their brawls disturbing some Howlers (another flying rodent) from their naps, however it also drew in a pack of Dinocanisaurus (a relic cynodont) hoping to exploit a loser's injuries, but had to make room when one pair of jostlers got too close, making one set its sights on the Jungle-Aces, where Kit just finished his story about Baloo and Wildcat's encounter with Crazy-Edie, "...and they set them free" Kit concludes, earning claps from his friends, unfortunately that's when the Dinocanisaurus decided to strike, "well now that that is settled shall we-" Kit began before the Atercurisaurus suddenly started sniffing the air with an alert face, "what is it big guy?" Sam asks, "something's wrong" Rey deduces and draws her spear up when the stegosaur suddenly whacks a tree branch into the bushes with its tail, making the Dinocanisaurus break cover, "uh oh, some reptilian wolves" Felix said getting his bolt-action sniper-rifle ready, and it was war: the cynodonts had the number advantage (there as up to thirty of them) and during the fight some distract while the others circle around, which made it difficult for our heroes to keep track of them all, especially when Sam gets pinned by one from behind, "Sam!" Ernie gasps after killing his Dinocanisaurus and immediately kills the one trying to maul Sam, "thanks" Sam wheezed, Kit meanwhile surveys the situation: there was just too many cynodonts to handle and they were running low on steam, "retreat, retreat" he orders and they all make a run for it, right into the Diablosaurus congregation where their mating rituals are interrupted by this, and they try to bring order: both to the Dinocanisaurus and the Jungle-Aces, the latter doing their best to dodge as much as possible from the lumbering dinosaurs in order to get as far away as possible from the cynodonts, unfortunately getting separated in the process. Not far away the Venatosaurus, Megapede and Terapusmordax were walking after them when they heard more gunshots and dozens of other sounds, causing them to run toward the source praying they weren't too late. Up above in the sky, the fleet of Me-264-bombers have arrived, and even better, the sky was clear for them to see what's down below. "Launch the gliders and have them fly down to the clearings near the crash-site, since the site itself is too short and rocky" Spigot orders, and we see some Gotha Go 242-transport-gliders (a predecessor to the Go 244-airplane) be lowered out of the bomb-bays and dispatched, where they fly to designated areas for landing. In one clearing, three go-242s land and deploy their cargo: troops and three kinds of land-craft; a Springer demolition vehicle (fitted with a bulldozer-plow to remove any obstacles), a Schwerer Panzerspähwagen (an armored-car specialized in recon), and a Sd.Kfz. 11 (also known as Sonderkraftfahrzeug) light half-track with a 3.7 cm Flak 18/36/37/43 anti-aircraft-cannon as extra precaution should their enemies arrive from above, the armored car was equipped with a cannon to repel any dangerous animal-life they might come across, and sure enough a Zeropteryx (a relic terror-bird) tries to snack on someone, only for the armored-car to shoot it dead, then they head off into the wilderness. Back with the Jungle-Aces, they were safe, but also separated. Kit Ernie and Sam managed to regroup with each other, while Bert Oscar Felix and Rey regrouped with the Atercurisaurus. "Everyone alright?" Rey asks, and they nod, but she sees three boys were missing, "wait, where's Kit Ernie and Sam?" she asks, "ah man, just when it couldn't get any worse" Oscar groans, "Kit" Rey shouts, "Ernie" Felix adds, but they receive no answer other than a few curious Asperdorsus, Howlers and Omnimatercimex (another centipede), "great, just great, could this get any worse?" Bert whines when they hear plane sounds from above and see the Me-264s, "you had to ask Bert" Felix jokes feeling as though these weren't Allied-planes. As for Kit Ernie and Sam, they too have come with the realization that they got separated. They tried to call out and retrace their steps, but found nothing, and even Kit couldn't tell which way was back. "Man this is tough even for me" he remarks: being an aviation-navigator, he was used to directing from in the air rather than on the ground, "think they'll be alright? I mean if they die their parents will kill us, especially Oscar's mom" Sam wonders, "well hopefully the Atercurisaurus is with them" Kit says trying to find his way back again, but came to some kind of ancient archaeological-site: a stone staircase leading to an alcove of ruins, "this looks like one of the abandoned temples that dot the island" Ernie surmised and with little option they head up, not sure what they'll find. As for the other four, they too try to pick up from where they came from, but have no luck. "Anything Steg?" Rey asks the stegosaur who shakes his head sadly, "Steg?" Felix says to the name, "yeah, short for stegosaur, since that is what he is" Rey explains and the dinosaur couldn't help smiling while shaking his head in amusement, suddenly an Ambulaquasaurus arrives looking hostile, quickly the gang get into battle positions until a spear came from nowhere and impales the dromaeosaur, killing it, and looking up, there was the Terapusmordax-girl in a tree, clearly the one who threw that spear, she then slides down the trunk and is joined by the Venatosaurus and Megapede, "wow thanks" Oscar expressed, then the islanders ask where the rest of their team is, but of course the Jungle-Aces couldn't understand what they're saying, but they got the gist of it, "Kit Ernie and Sam are missing, we got attacked by Dinocanisaurus and got separated, we've been looking ever since" Rey explains, and surprisingly the islanders understand (or at least figured that's what happened), quickly they climb aboard Steg and join the search. Stay tuned for Mission to Skull Island, Chapter five Gallery Category:Fanon for the talespin series Category:Fan fiction